


Eleutheromania

by xremiannex



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-07-18 01:17:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19966348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xremiannex/pseuds/xremiannex
Summary: Eleutheromania (noun) : the intense desire for freedomBruce has been tasked to investigate the murder of a millionaire who happens to be Natasha’s third husband, everyone believes she’s been killing all of them but Bruce believes she’s innocent and wants to help her prove herself (not saying she’s innocent tho)inspo taken from this tweet : https://twitter.com/brutasha_endgam/status/1147922218653011968?s=20





	1. That Gleam in your Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya everyone! this is my first attempt in writing a fanfic so please bear with me:) this fic was inspired by this tweet https://twitter.com/brutasha_endgam/status/1147922218653011968?s=20 so please be so kind to check out their twitter account!! deep apologies for any typos or grammatical mistakes!

Autumn in New York City was at its best. The glistening colours of red and yellow leaves beam through the window panes into the room of the Detective Bureau in NYPD. Ringing telephones, busy typewriters, pages flipping, officers playing around with their pens, just another typical day at the office. Inspector Bruce Banner breathed in the crisp air that filled the room as he embraced another new day at work. He stood up from his desk holding two cups of coffee in his hands, walking towards to the interrogation room. Sipping his coffee, he notices the sobs coming through the door. Despite questioning himself whether it was a good time to bust in, Bruce quietly opens the door which gave off a creak at the bolts, making everyone in the room turn towards him. 

Bruce exchanged looks with the man standing next to the door. “About time, Banner.” The head of the Detective Bureau of the NYPD whispered to him, grasping the cup of coffee from Bruce’s hand. 

“You know you could just ask Jarvis to bring you your coffee, Tony. After all, he’s your assistant.” Bruce could never stand another moment with Tony. His ego irks Bruce from time to time, and boy how much longer till the end of the month so Bruce would get transferred to another facility in upstate New York. 

“Come now, you sit closer to the pantry.” Tony responded with a sip from his coffee. With this, Bruce is reminded with a million reasons why he despises this man. One being how Tony always leaves all his work for Bruce to handle.

Bruce observes the room to see his colleague, Inspector Odinson sitting at the table with a notepad and a tape recorder in front of him. Across him sat a captivating lady in long red curls, red lipstick, pale skin. She looked extremely elegant dressed in her emerald green shift dress, black stockings and brown low heels. With her charms, Bruce could easily deduce the woman before him was in her mid-20s. What caught his attention was the tears streaming down her rosy cheeks. She had puffy and swollen eyes as if she has been crying for weeks. Her lipstick smudged at the corner of her lips. It was easy to make out her red eyes even being under a dim room with only one ceiling light above them. 

Bruce was quite an emotional person, easily developing feelings of sympathy towards people, which was probably a bad trait for his work, although he hides it perfectly well in front of his colleagues. Seeing the distressed lady all he wanted to do was to offer her an embrace and telling her everything was going to be alright. 

Bruce tried to shake the thought out of him. He turned to Tony and asked, “Where are we up to?”

“Nothing new. Hot chick whining over lost husband.” Tony replied with his eyes keeping perfectly still at the lady. 

Gathering his notepad and tape recorder, Thor gets up from his seat as he once again reassured the lady. “Rest assured ma’am, we will reach back to you as soon as we find anything.” He walked out of the room, simultaneously giving a pat on Bruce’s back. Tony swiftly walks up to the still sobbing lady, placing his broad palms on her back and arm as he whispered calmly into her ears which seems to be soothing her nerves. Bruce knew damn well about Tony’s intentions. He pulled Tony by his arms and urged him to get out of the room, telling him he will help handle the case. 

For the whole time the lady has not let her eyes wander elsewhere other than planting them still on her hands clenching on top of her knees. Bruce pulls a chair near the lady. _Good lord she was even more beautiful up close._ Noticing the tears that are drying up her makeup on her face, he pulls out his handkerchief for her. That’s when she finally looks up to the man before her, dressed in formal business attire, white blouse with a brown tie, bell-bottomed pants with suspenders and a gun holder attached to one of the straps, well-polished loafers. She was rather fond of his wavy quiff, having a strong desire to run her fingers over his curls. As the lady looked up, Bruce immediately got lost in her green eyes glistening from the tears she had just cried out. They were mesmerizing despite the red veins running across her eyeballs. 

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, staring into each other’s eyes until the lady accepted the handkerchief from Bruce. “Thank you.” She said softly. Her voice was raspy, all Bruce could imagine was having his name on her lips, the thought made him swallow harder and harder, unable to speak. 

Bruce finally found the right words and asked the lady, “Is there anything else we can do for you, ma’am?” 

“It’s alright.” Bruce knew it was definitely not. “This isn’t the first time. I’ll get over it, officer.” She stood up from her seat which Bruce followed. 

“P-Please, call me Bruce Banner. I’m an inspector of this department.” Bruce stuttered.

The lady smiled softly at Bruce’s tone of kindness. Her smile was angelic, which made Bruce swoon even more. 

“‘I apologise for messing up your handkerchief, Inspector Banner. I shall return it to you next time I visit.” Bruce was glad to hear that the lady will be visiting the office again, but of course for inquiry purposes. The lady made her way out of the room, nodding at Tony and Thor as she exited the office. Bruce rubbed his temples and made his way back to his seat, trying to rid the sensual thoughts that have been occupying his mind for the past five minutes. He then recalled the short conversation he had with the lady back then. “‘This isn’t the first time.’, what was that about?”

“Apparently the victim was her third husband.” Tony walked out of his office towards Banner, with a folder in his hand. “So? what have you acquired from Miss Red?”

Bruce took the folder from Tony and inspected it in detail. _Natalie Rushman, born Russian. Moved to New York City in the 1950s. First husband, investment banker, died from a car accident in Romania 1949. Second husband, owner of SHIELD enterprises, died from tuberculosis in Long Island 1952. Third husband, millionaire and owner of the Triskelion Industries, murdered at the Miller’s mansion._

“It’s a hard-knock life.” Bruce let out a deep sigh and handed the folder back to Tony.

“Nuh-uh, buddy. Lassie was probably itching for the cash.”

“W-what? You mean like, she was involved in her husband’s death? That’s impossible.” Bruce didn’t trust Tony. How could she possibly? He watched her cry her eyeballs out and he was damn sure for someone who has killed their husband, it would be nearly ridiculous to grieve that hard… or Bruce was just being totally charmed and deluded by her.

“Correction. She was involved in all her husbands’ death. And to a certain extent, yes it could be possible.” Bruce watched Tony in confusion as he continues to talk back at him, doing whatever it takes to defend the woman. 

“You’re just making allegations against a person we’ve just met ten minutes ago! Not to sound mean, but I don’t think this is fair to her.” 

“Nobody here talks about equality, Banner. Get your shit right.” Tony headed to Thor’s seat and handed him the folder. 

Thor flips open the folder to read the content as he joined the conversation. “That’s right, Banner. It is suspicious to see a widow with three lost husbands. Let alone millionaires and billionaires!” 

At this point, Bruce was getting more and more fired up. He may be a man who’s emotionally and easily attracted by captivating females, but he was also a man who would always stand by his morals. “I don’t care what you guys say about her, all I know is that we’re not supposed to make any claims before we find any proof.” 

“Fine!” Tony yelled. He snatched the folder from Thor and swings it across the room to Bruce, papers hovering everywhere. “If you want proof, then go look for proof!” 

Bruce frowned and knelt on the floor, picking up and re-organizing all the papers. He watched Tony walking back into his office followed by a loud slam of his door. Bruce was used to this. It wasn’t the first time Tony had threw his temper at his colleagues, and every time after his tantrums Bruce was always the one to deal with the rest of the problems. 

“yea right, I’ll go look for proof.”


	2. Smile though your Heart is Aching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revisiting Bruce's past relationship with Betty Ross. Bruce also begins to investigate the case of murder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some mentions of murder scene. absence of interaction between Natasha and Bruce in this chapter. I thought I would delve deep into the case and also address Bruce's solitary and restless life. hope you'll enjoy this chapter:)  
> (also I'm foreign so I apologise if I had messed up any titles or whatsoever)

Bruce has hard times falling asleep. Most nights it’s the same routine. He spends his time scanning through documents from work, decoding letters, listing out crime suspects, and eventually dozing off on his desk winding up with around two to three hours of sleep. Some nights, if he is lucky enough, or worn out to say the least, he comes home from work, immediately plopping himself onto his bed without changing or fixing himself up until he sleeps overtime the next day, arriving to work late then getting nagged by his boss. 

Ever since his failed relationship with Betty Ross, a student Bruce met fifteen years ago when they studied together at Culver University, his sleep schedule, diet, health and more, everything seemed to go downhill without Betty laying in bed beside him. 

_“Come to bed with me, Bruce.”_

__

__

_“I can’t, I still have some work to catch up on.”_

_“It’s late.”_

_“God! Betty, please. I’m just trying to finish my work.”_

_“You know how sick you’ve been getting lately, it’s more important to rest than to work your ass off.”_

_“My job is more important when your boss hands everything for you to deal with!” Bruce slammed his hands on his table, startling the woman in bed. Betty knew it would be impossible to persuade Bruce to let go of his orders. She called it a night to avoid disturbing Bruce in his work. She walked out of the room with a heavy sigh, her weight on the floor made the wooden boards squeak, irking Bruce to his limits._

Yes Bruce was full of himself sometimes, he wouldn’t deny that. To him, work was more important than anything else he could think of. He often felt bad when Betty would drop by his apartment bringing him takeouts and cleaning up the place, only to get continual typewriter sounds and a faint “thanks” in return for her favour. By the time Bruce was willing to make a change in his attitude, it became hard to trace Betty’s footsteps ever since she had left the city. Then Bruce proceeded with his sleepless, solitary nights. It was strange at first, to have his curtains drawn, ceiling lights with inactive light bulbs that Bruce had not bothered to replace for months, vacant fridge, cold and crisp air that filled the room even during summer… But soon Bruce seemed to have gotten used to his solitude, at least he was able to convince himself that he was used to it.

///

Today was not an exception for Bruce. Though he managed to pull off five hours of sleep the night before, the lethargy still stuck to him. He walked through the bustling office to the pantry, hoping to pull a shot of espresso to ease his fatigue. Today was not his lucky day.

Bruce knocked on the coffee machine and gave out a loud sigh. “Coffee machine broke down.”

“Sucks to be you!” Tony dashed into the office dressed in a casual look. Denim jeans with a green sweater, brown loafers, oversized square glasses and a lit cigar in his mouth. His ruffled hair and creased clothing suggested another wild night for him otherwise. “You better run down to the cafe across the street and grab me a cap before I lose my morning shit.” 

“Tony, just tell Jarvis to do it. I still have to work on the case from yesterday.” 

“Oh don’t bother, he’s busy reorganizing my documents.” Tony set himself onto the edge of Thor's desk. He quirked his eyebrow at Bruce. “So? Any news?”

“Not until you give me the recording from yesterday. How am I supposed to work on it without any information.” Bruce made his way back to his desk.

“Point Break, throw him something.” Thor looked in his drawer for the recording he did yesterday with Natalie Rushman and placed it on Bruce’s desk. Unlike Tony, Thor was more of a decent man, at least he was towards Bruce. Bruce appreciated Thor as his colleague. Occasionally Thor would offer to help with his work knowing that Tony was always bugging him, or they would stroll down to the bar a few blocks away from the station for drinks whenever Bruce felt lonely.

Bruce took over the tape recorder to hit play as the sound echoes through the room.

_“Could you state the name of the victim and your relationship with him, Mrs. Miller?”_

_“William Miller. He was my husband.”_

_“Mrs. Miller, would you mind describing the incident on the night of November 5, 1961?”_

_“I arrived home at around ten o’ clock. I see a trail of blood along the stairs so I followed where it led. I walked into the master bedroom to see the blood trail ending with my husband lying lifelessly on the cold hard floor, body facing the ceiling. His shirt was ripped and i could merely see the cuts on his chest, blood still flowing out of his wounds. I remember seeing some blood stains on his pants like they were handprints. I couldn’t take in the picture anymore so I called the station.”_

_“What were you doing on the night of November 5, ma’am?”_

_“I was at a bar Lemurian Star, grabbing some drinks with my college friends.”_

_“Would you mind telling me their names?”_

_“Sharon Carter and Wanda Maximoff.”  
“How long have you stayed there for?”_

_“I don’t recall, probably for three to four hours.”_

_“You mentioned about the blood trail that followed your husband’s corpse, where exactly did it start?”_

_“In the midst of the lobby, right at the front door.”_

_“Did you find anything odd around the crime scene?”_

_“Not that I could remember.”_

_“Do you know if William Miller was on bad terms with anyone? Would you be able to suggest some suspects?”_

_“As a millionaire and a company owner, I'm sure something fishy would be going on. But my husband never brings his work home”_

_“Is your relationship with your husband considered good?”_

There was no answer for a couple of seconds. Sobs could be heard coming from the recording which made Bruce’s heart twinge. 

_“He was one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”_

The tape recorder picked up the moment Bruce walked into the room when the recording came to an end. Bruce kept his knuckles to his mouth. He was speechless, the vulnerability of Natalie Rushman’s voice ached him, which drove his determination to its peak to help out the damsel in distress. 

“Thoughts, Banner?” Tony was still sitting on Thor’s desk, fiddling his glasses with his hands. Those glasses suited Tony, they looked hideous on him.

“Has the body been sent to the M.E. ? Have they figured out what type of weapon was used?” 

Thor walked over to Bruce’s desk and handed him a folder with the word “confidential” stamped on it. “Saratov Russian made Stag Bowie with a Minty 8" blade, deadly as hell.”

“Russian!” Tony snapped his fingers at them both. 

Bruce ignored Tony and continued reading the document in his hands. Pictures of the crime scene, listed suspects, weapon descriptions… but not enough clues to many any claims. “I don’t know, Tony. I think it’s better to run an in-depth background check and investigation at the crime scene again. I mean these clues lead us nowhere at all”  
“Is this just a dim-witted excuse for you to grab a date with Miss Red? Because that’s out of your league, Banner!” 

“You asked me to look for proof, therefore now I’m looking for proof!” Bruce began to raise his voice at Tony. He couldn’t understand why Tony was always so dramatic about everything, as if he himself wasn’t flirting with Natalie Rushman yesterday.

Footsteps entered the room. At the door stood two men in neat uniform, polished shoes. One man had his hands placed on his belt buckle, muscular and huge, blonde and neat crew cut with a solemn look on his face. The other man gave a nod to Bruce and Thor as he entered the room, slightly shorter than the former, definitely not as muscular as him. 

“Gentlemen, what’s all the fuss about.” Steve Rogers, Captain of Department. Said to be the public eye and would make all ladies swoon over him. Bruce wondered if he and Natalie Rushman had met yet, they’d make a great couple. 

“Captain.” Tony greeted Steve with a death stare. 

“Stark.” 

“How can we help you?” Tony jumped off Thor’s table to face Steve at the distance.

“That’s actually my question. I heard about the new case that you’re working on, was wondering if you gentlemen needed any extra help from Sergeant Barton.” 

“That’s right gents,” Clint Barton responded. “I don’t got all day.” 

Tony, consumed by his ego, would of course hate the idea of having someone from another department to butt into their business, not saying he is good at his job though. “Oh no, it’s fine Chief! Everything’s under control.” He clasped his hands together at Bruce, “Right, Banner?”

“Y-yea, uh yea. Tony’s right, Chief. We’re doing fine.” Bruce knew they weren’t, but what was he supposed to say when his boss’s top enemy is standing ahead of them.

“Alright. Let us know if there’s anything we can do.” They both walked out of the room. Bruce wished Steve had stayed longer, because it was only when Steve was around Tony would then have his mouth shut. Bruce resumed his work when Tony’s finger pointed at him.

“Banner! I thought I had placed my order! As you can see right now I _am_ losing my shit!” 

Bruce rolled his eyes at Tony and made his way out of the office. “You know I’m not good at multitasking, Tony.”


	3. May you always Walk in Sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce bonds with Natalie and gets to know more about her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for the delay! This chapter was quite long and I took some time to work on it. More interaction between Bruce and Natalie in this chapter. Again I apologise for some of the spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Bruce seldom visited coffee shops. He hated the stuffy air in the shop and the pollution cars give off on the streets as he waits in line for his coffee. And he absolutely hated Mondays at coffee shops, the store would be crowded with dead-looking businessmen. But he would occasionally remind himself that it was a good reason to get some air and time off from work. 

Bruce placed a buck on the counter, squinting at the menu on the wall. He had pretty poor eyesight, maybe he should consider getting glasses, but definitely not the ones that Tony owned. “Uh yea, Hi. Can I get an espresso shot and a wet cappuccino? Thanks.” He settled down at a small table outside the coffee shop, observing the vehicles passing by and the hustle and bustle of New York City. This was nice, Bruce rarely allowed himself time to relax and forget about his nagging boss. Not to mention that he was quite a forgetful person when it comes to paying for the water and electricity bill, so it was hard for him to enjoy a soothing hot bath at home. Ignoring how Tony’s coffee was turning cold, Bruce observed the swaying trees and leaves as he embraced the Autumn breeze. 

It wasn’t long until an AC Cobra drove up along the pavement outside the coffee shop. Bruce’s thoughts were startled by its sudden approach. He turned towards the automobile to see the chauffeur in a dark silk suit escorted the mistress from the vehicle. The woman displayed a ravishing aura. Her red curls and crimson lipstick contrasted her pale skin. She was wearing a pair of black cat-eyed shades, a beige-colored baggy trench coat with a green plunge dress underneath and a pair of leopard print heels. Recognizing the woman’s appearance, Bruce realized it was Natalie Rushman visiting the coffee shop. 

Bruce did not allow himself time to think before blurting out her name when she approached the doorstep. Natalie Rushman glanced at the direction of her name to see Bruce situated at the corner of the store. Bruce, once again, fascinated by her beauty when he soon realized she was strutting towards his table, taking off her shades to face the inspector. She beamed with pleasure when approaching Bruce. Damn that smile.

“Mrs. Miller, It’s lovely to see you here.” Bruce rose from his chair and offered to shake her hand. His broad hands wrapping her petite ones, feeling the delicate skin against his palms and fingers. 

“Please, you can call me Rushman. I was about to head to your office after my coffee break.” Bruce withdrew his hand to avoid the awkwardness of shaking her hand too long.

He lightly nodded at her as a response. “I see you’re feeling better, Miss Rushman?” 

“I just tend to avoid dwelling on the past. Been there done that.” Natalie spoke in a low and husky voice. 

Somehow her words managed to hit Bruce to the core. They reminded him of the tough times he had trying to move on from Betty Ross, not that he wanted to, after all, Betty was the main factor to his sleepless nights. Although Natalie had herself nicely put together compared to how she looked yesterday, Bruce could hardly dismiss the sorrow in her eyes and the heavy bags under them. It must have been hard for Natalie to go through her losses, as if it was in some ways, a vicious cycle that Natalie could not prevent. Bruce might not entirely understand Natalie’s situation, but he did understand what it would feel like to lose a significant partner, having past memories to haunt the rest of one’s life. And who knew if Natalie was having trouble sleeping herself too?

“I’m sorry for your loss. It’s a good sign that you’re moving on though.”

“Had similar experiences, inspector?” Natalie’s smirk made Bruce squirm. It was the first time he had seen Natalie displayed a different look on her face other than the mournful look that Bruce was more familiar with.

He was surprised by Natalie’s sudden interest in him, not really knowing how he should answer her. He clears his throat and awkwardly scratched his hair. “Oh no, I’ve never been married. Uh, my previous relationship just didn’t really work out.”

“I’m guessing that’s really troubling your sleep, huh?” Natalie eyed at the two cups of coffee on Bruce’s table. Tony, as to how impatient he normally gets, must be really mad about his coffee right now. 

Bruce tried to laugh it off. “Yeah, kind of.” 

They remained silent for a while. Natalie had her eyes looking over the features on Bruce’s face then stopping as she once again made eye contact with the inspector. She parted her lips occasionally like she was trying to say something. 

Natalie swallowed hard before speaking again,“Um, since I'm heading to your office, would you mind me asking about my husband’s case?” 

“Uh, yea sure.” Bruce gestured her to sit. “about that... we’re still working on it”

“Oh.” There was a hint of disappointment in her reply.

“B-but uh, we just made a decision to run another investigation at the crime scene. Would you mind, Miss Rushman?”

“Well, be my guest.” she smirked at him again.

Once again, Bruce found himself lost with words to impress the lady. “Y-You know, I could offer you a cup of coffee if you’d like.” 

“Oh no, I’m alright, inspector. Thank you for your offer.” 

“No, please. It’s the best I could do for now.” Bruce got up from his seat and insisted Natalie on waiting for him for her cup of coffee. Knowing that it would be nearly impossible to refuse Bruce’s offer, Natalie could do nothing but give in. 

After a few minutes, Bruce came back with a cappuccino, a cinnamon roll, and packets of brown and white sugar in his other hand, because he wasn’t sure how Natalie would prefer to drink her coffee. 

“Uh, I didn’t know if you needed any sugar, s-so I got you both brown and white sugar. And uh, the cinnamon rolls here are a real treat so uh, feel free to grab a bite, it’s on me.” Bruce crossed his arms and buried his hands under his armpits, a pose that he often found comfortable and secure. Or it was sometimes a pose of concealment, hoping that Natalie wouldn’t notice Bruce’s attempt in, well, flirting with her.

Natalie chuckled at Bruce’s offer. “Is this a gesture of sympathy, inspector?”

“I believe the proper term for it is ‘basic human decency’.” Bruce gave Natalie a genuine reply.

Natalie bit her lips together to hide the smile that she was giving off. She took a bite off the cinnamon roll, the white icing on the corner of her lips gave Bruce the wrongest thought as Natalie licked it off with her tongue. She kept going in for more and occasionally gave nods of satisfaction until she had finished the whole thing, licking the excess icing off her fingers. Bruce thought it was rather a nice little scene for him, to see Natalie enjoy herself and prolonging the smile on her face. It was also a great idea to avoid having to ask for her favorable foods for their future coffee breaks, if they would ever have one.

“You know, inspector. I don’t usually sit in the streets and devour my meals. This definitely changed my mind.” Natalie wiped her mouth with her handkerchief. She glanced at it like she suddenly remembered something.

“Something wrong?” Bruce asked her.

Natalie shot her head up at Bruce. “No. the handkerchief you borrowed me yesterday, it’s still in the wash so…” 

“Oh, it’s fine, Miss Rushman. You could actually keep it, I have plenty of those at home.” 

“That doesn’t seem like the right thing to do, inspector.” Natalie quirked her eyebrows. 

“Honestly, it’s not a big deal.” 

Again, Natalie gave up trying to persuade Bruce. She started to gather her belongings and smiled at Bruce again, “Thank you for your generosity, inspector. I’ll make it up to you someday.” 

Bruce scratched his hair and laughed at Natalie’s comment, “Well then, I’ll be counting on it.” 

Without a word, Natalie paced towards her automobile. Bruce exclaimed before it was too late to say goodbye. “I’ll be seeing you soon, then?”

Natalie shot him a smug little look as the car started off to the distance. Bruce observed the way her red curls swayed in the wind and the trail of perfume left on the streets as she departed. How badly he wished this moment would never end, how badly he craves to see her soon. 

///

Bruce and Thor pulled up at the gates of the Miller Estate. “Oh, don’t forget the camera!” Bruce reminded Thor of the camera placed at the backseat of their car.

“So? You think Stark’s right that this was a homicide?” Thor questioned Bruce as they made their way to the porch. 

Bruce rang the doorbell and sighed at Thor’s question. “I don’t know, man. What do you think?” 

“Well, all I know is we can’t be sure of anything until we find constructive evidence.” Surprisingly, Bruce never thought Thor would be unsure about anything. Though Thor may be Bruce’s best colleague at work, most of the time he’d be agreeing to whatever Tony said. 

Bruce gave a pat on Thor’s muscular shoulders and shot him a forceful smile. Soon, the butler answered the door for the two detectives. The man was neatly dressed in formal attire with a clean buzz cut. His face displayed a warm smile and some noticeable creases on his forehead. 

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. We have been expecting you both.” The butler greeted both detectives and guided them into the house. 

“Uh- yea. Sorry to bother, sir.” Bruce started to gather his things needed for his investigated while Thor was completely blown away by the extravagance of Miller’s mansion. The marble floors were shiny as if they had just been nicely waxed. Chandeliers were hanging above the room, reflecting the sunlight on the floors and walls, paintings framed in gold hung on walls. Numerous white marble pillars forming into archways that connected rooms and rooms and extending themselves to support the roof. Before them was a spacious staircase covered in red velvet carpet, the bloodstains left on the carpet by William Miller’s corpse could still clearly be seen. God, why didn’t anyone clean that up. 

The sound of heels hitting the floor echoed through the room. Both the detectives turned their heads towards the direction of the sound to see Natalie Rushman pacing towards them, dressed in an elegant green sundress, silk stole wrapped around her neck and shoulders, and a spotted headband holding up her curls. Bruce nodded clumsily at the approaching woman and Thor greeted her with a “ma’am”. 

“It’s great to see you, inspectors.” Natalie smiled at the gentlemen and quickly turned her attention to Bruce, quirking her eyebrows at him. “Do you need any help in your investigation.” 

“Um- I um,” Bruce turned to Thor and gestured him to go up to the crime scene, “my partner will be looking over the crime scene again, and uh-” his stammers made it obvious to both Natalie and Thor that Bruce was really nervous in front of Natalie. He could almost feel the silent judgement given by both his dream lover and his best friend from work even though he was not looking at any of them in the eye. “I-I’ll be asking you some questions for further investigation, if you don’t mind, Miss Rushman.” 

“It’s fine for me, inspector Banner.” Natalie pursed her lips into a smirk when seeing Bruce stutter and squirming in front of her. She almost found it cute to hear Bruce talk whenever she’s around. She hoped she could always be the only one to talk to him just so she could make fun of his stammering. She looked over to the butler in an attempt to wipe her thoughts off Bruce, “Coulson, could you please take inspector Odinson to the master’s bedroom for his investigation.”

“Certainly, ma’am.” Coulson led Thor up the stairs to the master’s bedroom.

“Why don’t we take this to a more pleasant area, inspector?” Natalie suggested, grinning at Bruce’s still flushed face. 

“Sure.” Bruce began to follow Natalie outdoors. His eyes planted on Natalie’s strutting ass as he observed the way it sways to both sides as she walked, longing to hold them in his hands to feel the softness of her buttcheeks. They settled on the porch, facing the green pastures outside the estate. Sparrows resting on branches and doing their little sing-songs, the sound of grass and leaves swaying in the wind creating music to Bruce’s ears, sunlight beaming onto the ground making this grass sparkle. It was a pleasant scenery, but the real scenery was Natalie, of course. 

Bruce inhaled the fresh air around him, “Nice house, Miss Rushman.” 

“Thank you, it’s one of the gifts from my husband that I appreciate.” Natalie walked over to Bruce and rested her arms on the handrails. 

Bruce bit his inner lip as he began searching for his tape recorder from his coat. He placed the tape recorder along the handrail and took out his pen and notepad. “I’ll begin when you’re ready.” His fingers placing on the buttons of the tape recorder, awaiting for Natalie’s signal.

She nodded at him lightly as Bruce started, “Miss Rushman, could you tell me more about your former spouse, William Miller. How was his work?” 

“He was a busy man, I rarely see him around the house. I’m usually asleep when he gets home from work, covered in smell of alcohol. He usually invites men and commissioners from the army to our house for meetings. I never questioned his work, but what else does the owner of a weapons’ manufacturer do.” 

“Was he a heavy drinker?” Bruce asked, quickly scribbling Natalie’s words onto his notepad.

“Yes, sometimes he has a bad temper.” The way that Natalie purred the ‘r’ sound made Bruce squirm uncomfortably. 

“Have you both recently had a fight, or any arguments?” 

Natalie scoffed at his question, “inspector, we’re always in a catfight. If he was still alive he’ll be telling you how much he wants my ass out of the house.” 

Bruce looked confused, “I-I recall you saying he was one of the best things that have happened to you, Miss Rushman.” 

“He was, doesn’t mean we were in a good relationship. He was a generous man for often sending me gifts and money, and a house to live in when he’s dead. I guess it’s just his way of making me stay out of his way so he could go fuck with other chicks.” 

“Do you have an idea of where your husband was before the murder occurred?” 

“He didn’t really go anywhere. He had been sick for weeks and he had been resting in his room for the whole day.” 

“Miss Rushman, would you mind me asking about your previous partners?” Bruce looked up at Natalie, disappointment showing on her face. 

“I’d rather not, Inspector. Brings back the awful memories I’ve tried to wipe off. Why? Is this necessary for my husband’s case?” 

“N-no, we just wanted to have a better understanding of your background, Miss Rushman.” 

Bruce noticed the tears in the corner of Natalie’s eyes that she was trying to hide. Dammit, he knew he shouldn’t have asked any sensitive questions, but at the end of the day he still got a job to finish. 

Bruce stopped the recorder and put it back into his coat pocket. He spoke softly in an attempt to comfort the lady beside him, whose head was facing the floor in preventing Bruce to see her vulnerable side again. “L-let's take it from here, Miss Rushman. I’m really sorry for asking those questions.”

“The questions you were asking, why does it sound like you’re accusing me of my husband’s murder?” Natalie turned to Bruce with a puzzled look and a hint of anger. 

“I- I’m not, Miss Rushman. T-This is just part of the procedure.” Bruce quickly defended himself, hoping not to lose Natalie’s interest in him. 

“I understand, inspector.” her voice was low and husky again, eyes turning red and nose sniffing. “It’s just… Lonely. You know?” 

“Yea, I’ve been there too, Miss Rushman.” Bruce placed his hand on Natalie’s arm, feeling her cold skin against his. The warmth of his hand and his thumb gently rubbing circles on her skin was quite reassuring to Natalie, she wanted his warm hands to caress her body and touch her most sensitive spots. 

Natalie was going too far with her thoughts, she reminded herself to snap back to reality and continued with her statement, “I’m just really tired of having multiple failed relationships, always ending up a widow and wandering around the house alone, revisiting the same decorations and architectures at the house over and over again. What’s worse… people around the city sees me as a whore who’s only after men’s money.” 

“No, that’s awful.” Bruce frowned. How dare people talk about Natalie like that. “I- I mean, no one should be making any judgement without knowing your experience.” 

Natalie didn’t seem to be taking in Bruce’s comment, or Bruce thought that she might not have liked the way his hand was on hers. Bruce immediately withdrew his hand from Natalie’s arm and tried coming up with something to say in order to reassure Natalie.

“And- everyone would experience failed relationships at least once in their lives. We just gotta learn to move on.” Bruce didn’t know what to say. Surely his relationship with Betty Ross did not go so well, but he had never been married, never had his partner die in front of him.

“It’s hard to move on alone.” Natalie’s reply made Bruce remember the sorrowful times he had when Betty left him.

“I know.” Bruce started to look a bit down. “Hard to sleep, can’t get your thoughts out of your mind, laziness and negativity strikes… all that… I understand it too.” The things that Bruce spoke of made Natalie’s heart turn sore, not only because of the depressed tone of his voice, but because of the accuracy. She began to realize Bruce and her may have a lot in common, similar experiences, to say the least. Somehow Natalie felt relieved about it, as if she had finally found someone that she could trust and rely on. 

“Talking about your failed relationship too, huh?” It was obvious to Bruce that Natalie was now trying to sound better at him. Perhaps it was an apologetic move since her own experience reminded Bruce of his own as well. Bruce appreciated it. 

“Haha, yea.” Bruce tried to laugh off his memories, “Love is just one big double-edged sword.” 

“Love is for children. That’s what I learnt from all my previous relationships.” 

“I can’t agree more. Nothing lasts forever” Natalie began to smile again as she heard Bruce agreeing to her comment. Bruce loved it when she smiled. She was herself again, free from sorrow and vulnerability. He hoped to see that smile on her face forever and ever. 

“Believe it or not, it's kinda hard to find someone with shared life experiences, inspector.” Natalie said. 

“Oh, well… maybe we’re both not lucky enough.” Bruce kept his still gaze on Natalie’s face. He badly wished he could comfort her, or maybe even to meet her sooner so he could be there for her when she had been experiencing her roughest moments in life. To hear about someone’s horrible and depressing experience ached his heart. He thought to himself, Natalie might have flaws and imperfections, but he knew he was willing to love this woman for the rest of his life, proving Tony wrong of his accusations and giving his best and everything to love Natalie. 

Natalie saw the look on Bruce’s face to figure that he was staring intensely at her face. She quirked her eyebrows and asked the inspector, “Got blood on my face, inspector?”

Bruce was too lost at Natalie’s charms for words, “No. You look absolutely gorgeous, Miss Rushman.” 

Natalie giggled. “Pardon me?” 

“O-oh, uh, I uh, I wasn’t supposed to- I’m sorry.” Bruce was flushing from his abrupt comment. What the hell was he thinking? That was highly unprofessional of him, he realized he might have just confessed his affection to her. 

Though, to his surprise, Natalie was laughing at Bruce. “It’s fine, I like honest men.” she joked. 

Bruce rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and smiled awkwardly. _“I like honest men.”_ Was his mind playing tricks on him? Was he mishearing things? or...

Natalie cut off Bruce’s thoughts when she began to speak again. “When you’re around, inspector, I feel less lonely. I feel free, I feel like I am my own self and honestly, I haven’t felt that in years. Thank you.” Her statement sounded genuine and it made Bruce swoon. Did she really just compliment Bruce? It was too much for Bruce to take in at once. His head was spinning and spinning till he realized Natalie began moving closer to Bruce as she placed her tiny hand on top of his, slightly startling Bruce since it was a first for Natalie to initiate physical contact with him. 

Bruce was blushing hard by Natalie’s sudden approach. “Miss Rushman, I-” 

“Do you think I killed my husband?” Natalie questioned before Bruce could finish his sentence, solemnity in her tone, voice slightly cracking to show her fear. 

Bruce frowned at her. “No, I don’t. I trust you, Miss Rushman. And trust me, I’ll prove to anyone about their allegations.” He placed both his hands on Natalie’s shoulders only to feel the freezing skin of hers, realizing her sundress was not appropriate attire for the November weather. 

“We should get inside, Miss Rushman. You’re freezing.” Bruce was genuinely concerned about Natalie. He began leading Natalie into the house when she stopped Bruce in his tracks, pulling on his sleeves. 

“I almost forgot, inspector. Your handkerchief.” 

“Oh, Miss Rushman, I really meant it when I said you could keep it.” Bruce tried to persuade Natalie when she suddenly leaned in close to his left ear, fingers brushing his to send him tingles along his skin. 

“It’s fine, Inspector Banner. I’ll give it back to you.” She whispered in his ear. Bruce clenched his fists as he tried to hold in the faint bulge in his pants. God, Banner. Not. Now. 

Natalie withdrew herself from Bruce’s face and shot him a smug smile. She had no idea how furious Bruce was getting for not being able to hold her face and kiss her deeply “I’ll go get it, you could wait at the front door.” She began strutting to the corridors until the sound of her heels disappeared into the distance. 

Bruce obeyed her words and went towards the front door to see Thor waiting for him by the door. “Everything went alright?” Thor asked, noticing Bruce’s burning red cheeks.

“Y-yea. You?” 

“I asked the servants around, they all said William Miller told them to take the day off the night he died so, no witnesses. We could go now, I gotta file these pictures into a report for Stark.” Thor suggested. 

“Oh, um. Miss Rushman, she’s getting my handkerchief… I kinda lent her mine when she was back in the interrogation room a few days ago.” Bruce clearly knew that Thor was silently judging him when Thor only nodded at his words. 

The doorbell rang and Coulson walked over to answer the door. There stood two men in dusty overalls and shirts with a toolbox in their hands. They greeted Coulson and introduced themselves as home appliance repairers. 

The two detectives watched Coulson showed the workers the way to the basement when Natalie made her way back to meet Bruce and Thor, Bruce’s handkerchief in her hand. 

“What’s the fuss?” Thor looked over to where the workers have headed and asked. 

“They’re here to repair the heater. There’s a minor fracture on one of the tubes, I was afraid the gas might leak.” Thor pursed his lips and gave a nod to Natalie’s response. 

Natalie turned to face Bruce and handed him the cloth in her hand. “Here you go, inspector Banner. Thank you for your handkerchief.” 

“You’re welcome, Miss Rushman.” Bruce smiled and gazed at Natalie longingly.

Thor noticed the little gazing would probably take a while, so he decided to show himself out of the house and waited for Bruce in the car. That was what made Thor a great friend to Bruce, never interrupt someone like Tony always did.

“You should probably go join your friend, inspector.” Natalie broke off the gaze. “I look forward to hearing from you about my husband’s case.” 

Bruce bobbed his head at her, “Yea. Get some rest, Miss Rushman.” He thought about going in for a hug, but then realized it might be too early for any intimate contact with the victim’s wife. 

He made his way to the car and glanced at the handkerchief in his hand, finding red lipstick marks on them. Curiously, he unfolded the handkerchief to see the words _“Call me”_ along with a phone number, different from the one that Natalie had given the department while they were filing the incident, which made Bruce believe the number on the handkerchief was probably Natalie’s personal number. 

Shit. Bruce knew he was so fucked. He knew how bad things would get if Tony knew about their… was it even a relationship? Yet he couldn’t help but smirk at the fact that Natalie had just given him her number, and the flirty behavior she had displayed a few minutes ago. Bruce was quite content and certain that Natalie must have felt and accepted the chemistry between them.


	4. Her Smiles, Her Frowns, Her Ups and Downs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce discovers new clues for the case. He meets with Natalie in a bar to question her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes, I’m really sorry for Tony’s poor characterisation and how mean he is towards Bruce. I promise it’s crucial for the plot development!! Also school is starting soon and I won’t be able to update my story quite as often. I hope you all would understand:(  
> And thank you so much for enjoying my story! I hope you like it as much as I like writing this fic!!!

It had almost been a week yet Bruce still could not manage to get William Miller’s case solved. He wondered why. The murder weapon had not been found yet, there were no lead suspects, except Tony kept suggesting Natalie Rushman as the prime suspect despite having no proof. Basically, the case was unsolvable. 

Rapid footsteps came out of Tony’s office. He leaned against the doorframe where his assistant’s desk was located, “Jarvis, would you please be so kind to brew me a cup of cappuccino? It’s my headache again, it’s just pain, buddy.”

“Certainly sir.” Bruce never understood why Tony had to dramatize things everytime, but Jarvis’ immense ability to tolerate his boss was a level that Bruce was sure he’s never surpass. 

“Banner, report on Miller’s.” Tony walked over the Bruce’s corner, irritating Bruce with the slurping of his coffee.

Bruce turned to face Tony and grabbed a file from his drawer, “Uh, yeah. William Millers, half Russian. Owner of Triskelion Industries since 1947. Married to-”

“No no no no no, this isn’t what I was asking for!” Tony attempted to clap his hands at Bruce’s face, alarming him with the drops of coffee that was spilt on Bruce’s desk. “Evidence! Where is it?”

“Uh… Thor and I have been arranging the information we picked up back at the Millers, and-” 

Tony’s fingers disappointingly pinched his nose bridge and let out a heavy sigh, “Banner. Tell me who’s working on the case again? That was your job! Where are you up to now, buddy?”

Bruce couldn’t help it, although he certainly was the one to be blamed. He had been assigned with the Miller’s case yet he still had numerous open cases in his hands. If only Tony would stop leaving all the paperwork for Bruce to complete. “I’m sorry Tony, I still have other cases to work on and-” 

“Zip zap. Nuh uh. No excuses Banner. Get your shit together! It’s been a week!” Bruce hated when Tony was being unreasonably frustrated. He clearly had a lot of time in his hands yet who had been the one out looking for evidence? Not Tony. And who had been held responsible every time someone screwed up something? Not Tony. 

“How am I supposed to crack the case when I’m still looking for clues!” Bruce argued. 

“I distinctly remember myself suggesting that Miss Red had something to do with the case.” Oh no, not Natalie Rushman again. “Well? Did you look into it?” 

Bruce looked away from Tony’s eyes and frowned at the clasped hands on his thighs. “No.” 

“Why the hell not?”

“Because that was just an allegation! There’s no proof showing-”

Tony slammed his cup of coffee onto Bruce’s desk, startling Bruce and everyone else in the room. “There’s no proof? That’s where your job comes in, Banner! You said you were going to look for proof, didn’t you?”

Bruce remained silent. He slumped back into his chair as a gesture of defeat. He knew he could never talk over Tony about his accusations on Natalie. Bruce felt so tired of his work. He hated that he always felt defeated even when he had resolved a case, because most of the time Tony would take the credit away from Bruce. Not to mention that his boss treated his colleagues like they had killed his family. Bruce really hoped he could put his work aside and for one day just be free from wearies, free from stress, just… free from everything. He had planned on going on a decent vacation... or maybe spending a lovely day with Natalie would be great for stress relief. 

“Thor, what have you got.” once again Tony decided to dismiss Bruce. 

“Uh actually, we were going around the house and we picked up something that might be useful.” Thor handed a few pieces of photographs to Tony, possibly the ones he had taken at the Miller’s estate. They were pictures of firearms and weapons. According to Thor, he had found them displayed on a glass cabinet in one of the study rooms. 

Tony examined the pictures closely, “Shady. Why would a millionaire keep a collection of armoury at his house?” 

“William Miller is literally the owner of a weapon manufactory, what’s so surprising to find tools at their house?” Bruce could tell where this was going. Tony would make use of everything, even if it was the smallest detail, in order to catch Natalie Rushman out.

Yet once again, Tony simply dismissed Bruce’s comment and continued flipping through the photographs until he stopped with a picture of the entire collection of weaponry stored in the glass cabinet. He noticed that the lock of the cabinet was slightly distorted, as if someone tried to break it. He agreed it could be a hard find, but as detectives of the NYPD, he kind of expected better from his boys. 

“And… you’re telling me you did not notice the broken lock despite being in that very room and standing right in front of the cabinet for pictures?” Tony pointed at the photo for Thor, questioning him with sarcasm in his tone. 

“Uh. I didn’t really check the rooms thoroughly, you know… I wasn’t even supposed to go around the house except for the master’s bedroom, we didn’t exactly issue a warrant, so…” Thor tried to come up with a reasonable explanation yet still his words were slowly becoming softer and softer until he had finished his sentence. 

Tony sighed and shook his head at his detectives. “The broken lock could suggest that someone tried to break into the cabinet for a weapon and then stabbed William Miller with it. Did you boys ask if there were any witnesses? People around the house on the night of the murder?” 

“No one was at the house that night. The servants were off work and Natalie Rushman was out.” Thor replied.

Tony frowned and shook his head again. “Someone must be lying. If it was a murderer outside the house they would’ve brought along their own weapon, why try to break into the cabinet.” 

“How’d you know it wasn’t broken months prior the incident?” Bruce suggested, in return having Tony scowl at him. 

“Got anything to add, Banner?” Tony’s glare usually meant utter silence from the person he was glaring at, so what else could Bruce say.

Tony placed the photographs on Thor’s desk and started wandering around the room, “If the murder weapon isn’t in the collection… this could mean someone took the murder weapon from the collection and replaced it with some other tool that was not part of William Miller’s collection.” 

Thor and Bruce could not do anything but feel obliged to agree with Tony’s hypothesis. Not saying Tony did not have a point, just that his suggestions were based on his own standpoint on the matter and definitely not convincing enough.

“Alright boys,” Tony clapped his hands together, “you know the drill, we got our evidence. Banner, go locate the murder weapon. And Thor, we’re taking in Natalie Rushman for another round of interrogation. I need to know everything about her background, and whether she has prior knowledge in working with weaponry. I knew from day one that bitch was up to something.” Tony was basically yelling out of victory since he thought he had made a valid point, Bruce was sure that nearly the whole building could hear him.

“Woah, wait wait wait-” Bruce got out of his seat once he had heard about Tony’s ridiculous plan, “it’s been a week and the murder weapon has probably been disposed already?” 

“And? Does that mean you’re done with your job? That murder weapon is prime evidence and we need to check for fingerprints. So you better find me that little son of a bitch even if it means going skinny dipping among garbage.” 

Bruce understood that it was necessary to search for the murder weapon, but running another interrogration with Natalie just sounded unfair and unecessary to him. “Alright, alright. Then what about the interrogation? I already have everything about Natalie Rushman recorded. If you’re running another interrogation it should be with the servants that work at the mansion.” 

“Why are you defending Miss Red, Banner.” Tony began to lean into Bruce, making him to step back uncomfortably. 

“I’m not! I’m just trying to say-” Bruce excused. 

“Are you seriously attracted to her?.” Tony was now nudging his finger against Bruce’s shoulder. This was when Bruce knew he was in big trouble. He wondered how the hell he was supposed to get away from this now that Tony knew about Bruce’s feelings for Natalie.

“What? No!” He lied, unsuccessfully. “Listen, Tony. I know you’re stressed,” Bruce lied again, everyone was stressed to be fair. “But we should take things seriously without biased-” 

Tony simply cut Bruce off, “Oh! So I’m the one who’s biased?” of course Tony was. “ and you said, ‘We’? No, who’s ‘we’? There’s no ‘we’ here, Banner. This is ‘you’, I handed you this case and I put my trust in you, so you better not give me shit and humiliate me in front of Steve Rogers, and find me that goddamn weapon.”

Steve Rogers, that was all Tony ever cared about. 

“Well if you say this is my case, could you at least give me some more time to work on it.” At this point Bruce was getting more and more devastated. But he promised Natalie that he would defend her no matter what, because he trusted her. “I mean it, I’ll run the interrogations with every single person in the house, and I will get you that murder weapon.” 

Surely, Tony disliked Bruce. But he couldn’t deny Bruce’s potential in his work, regardless of once in a while Bruce would stall on his work. Ever since he had arrived at the precinct the clearance rate had rose significantly.

“four days, and that is it!” Bruce was surprised he actually managed to convince Tony. Seconds later Tony had disappeared from Bruce’s peripheral vision and marched back into his room, whilst ordering another cup of coffee from Jarvis. 

At least the little catfight between Tony and Bruce was once again over but not resolved. Their quarrels seemed to be endless. Everyday Bruce came into the office knowing that Tony would be venting out on him the second he had settled himself in his chair. By now Bruce was actually used to it. Well, not the part where Tony was always giving Bruce his skull splitting headaches. But he figured Tony shouldn’t be the source of his stress, although he technically was. Bruce had often reminded himself that in two weeks he would be changing facilities, thus not having to deal with his nagging boss anymore. Let it go, Bruce. Just let it go. He had managed to pull off way more challenging tasks, and he remembered a time when everything seemed pretty impossible. Look at how far he has gotten now. 

Thor walked over to Bruce’s desk, concerned. “you alright?” 

“Yea, I’m fine.” Bruce rubbed his temples with his thumb to ease his headache that was emerging through his brain. “Just a headache.” 

Thor allowed himself to sit on the edge of Bruce’s desk, slightly losing his balance while doing that due to his heavy weight, “You know, I just got a call from the M.E. this morning, they said they found some new information so... maybe we could head down there to get the report, and we could grab a couple of drinks after work?”

Bruce had always appreciate when Thor could tell that he was in a big mess and tried to cheer him up. It was probably one thing that Bruce found comforting at work.

“Sure, let’s get going before Tony gives me another headache”

///

The boys walked down the block to arrive the pathology medical lab. They were told to wait at the lobby for their autopsy. 

“Didn’t we already received William Miller’s autopsy? why did the M.E. suddenly call for us again?” Bruce asked her partner, slouching and crossing his arms impatiently. 

“Dunno. Perhaps they missed something?” Thor took a seat on the nearby couch. 

Soon enough, a lady dressed in a black dress and lab coat appeared from the corridors and paced towards the two gentlemen. Her dark hair was fixed into a messy bun, a pair of glasses and a pen placed in her coat pocket. She greeted the detectives with a folder in her hand. 

“I’m Dr. Maria Hill, the new medical examiner. I suppose you gentlemen are here for William Miller’s Report?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” Thor stood from the couch. 

Maria handed the folder in her hand to the detectives. Bruce and Thor read it thoroughly as Maria continued, “we apologize for the sudden notice. We couldn’t get hold of our toxicologist to run his tests on the victim until three days ago.”

“Toxicologist? You didn’t say the victim was drugged.” Bruce questioned her, confusion in his face.

“We couldn’t find any evidence at first. Until one of our colleagues were checking on the bodies, to find that William Miller’s skin was turning pink. We suspect this has something to do with poor circulation of the body so we called for more tests.”

“And the results?” Thor was getting impatient. 

“You’re not gonna like this.” Maria turned over the page that Bruce and Thor was reading on the folder. Pictures of the dead body were attached to the page with a paperclip. The body was pale, along with the dried out knife wounds resulted from the stabbing , but its head, arms and chest was slightly pinkish and reddish. Bruce began to read aloud the statements next to the pictures. 

“ ‘Cause of death : carbon monoxide poisoning’, w-wait. I don’t get it. The victim was stabbed.” 

“Along with the change in flesh colour, hypoxic changes were present in the cortex and hippocampus, with an age of around 2 to 3 days.”

“...and?”

“It is consistent that the victim suffered from a delayed death following carbon monoxide poisoning.”

“You’re suggesting that a victim with stab wounds all over his chest actually died from poisoning?” Bruce was getting more and more confused. 

“Report shows symptoms of prolonged poisoning, and when the body was sent to the hospital it was still bleeding out severely. So the poisoning most likely happened before the stabbing.” 

“Horrible death.” Thor said.

“N-no, wait. Isn’t it weird when someone is poisoned and slowly dying then killed again by a knife?” 

“Could be a suicide, and then a murder?” Maria shrugged her shoulders. 

Thor suddenly remembered something and pulled Bruce to the corner of the room. “You remember when we went to Miller’s estate? And then Natalie Rushman said she was having the heater down in the basement fixed?”

“Yea? It’s almost winter, what’s wrong with it?” 

“Bruce. The most common source of fuel for heaters is gas, carbon monoxide! Plus when I was checking around the house, I noticed all the air vents were blocked except the ones in the master’s bedroom.” 

“Maybe it’s cold at night and they wanted to warm up the room?” 

“Banner, this is evident. Surely someone decided to play around with the heater and kill off William Miller. You said Natalie Rushman told you her husband had been sick for weeks and seldom went out of the house, right? This could be it, Banner!” 

“W-what are you trying to say? Are you saying Natalie Rushman was drugging her husband.” 

Thor shrugged at Bruce. ‘Could be. Why else would a sick person poison themselves?” 

Bruce remained silent. It was too much to take in at once. A few minutes ago Tony was sure that Natalie had killed her husband, and now the pathologist suggested that the victim was actually drugged. He really wished he could just sit down and sleep away all of this bewilderment. 

“Banner, come on. Why the long face? We just found ourselves a lead to solve the case!” For some reason Thor was pretty hyped up. He shook Bruce’s body, trying to cheer him up as well. 

“I- I’m sorry, Thor. I can’t really catch up with what’s been happening. I’m gonna…” Bruce’s mind was spiralling, “I think I’m gonna head home.” 

“Woah, you alright, Banner?” Thor placed his hand behind Bruce’s back, supporting him as Bruce was feeling weak and wobbly in his knees, slightly losing his balance and falling against Thor. 

“I’m fine. I just need some rest before I start working again.” Without another word, Bruce left ahead of Thor and decided to head home before he lost his mind. 

However, instead of heading home, Bruce changed his mind and drove around the city to let his mind wander off. Yet he was still bothered, thinking if he should listen to Tony and look more into Natalie Rushman, skeptical about what he had seen in the latest autopsy report of William Miller and denying Thor’s suggestion that Natalie Rushman killed her husband. He wanted to meet Natalie, to question her once and for all, and hopefully dig up her secrets. He took out the handkerchief with Natalie’s number from his pocket and stopped at the side of the streets, locating a nearby telephone booth. 

He quickly made a call to Natalie before he had changed his mind and awaited her answer. 

“Good evening, Natalie Rushman speaking.” 

“Um, Miss Rushman. It’s Inspector Bruce Banner.”

“oh,” her voice sounded cold. Bruce wondered why, he thought she would have spoken to him seductively after their little physical affection at her house. “How can I help you, Inspector?”

“C-could we meet up somewhere? I need to ask you about something.” 

“Sure. meet me at the Lemurian Star at 48th street.” Natalie ended the call before Bruce could say goodbye. Bruce stepped out of the telephone booth and made his way to the bar.

/// 

Bruce arrived at the bar. He looked around the room, making out where Natalie was sitting. She was located at the counter, sitting alone with a shot of whisky before her. She looked desperate and worn off, the scene ached Bruce’s heart. 

He kept his hands inside his coat pockets and uneasily paced to Natalie’s seat. Natalie did not make any eye contact with the inspector when he had approached her. Instead, she stared dead at her cup, her fingers playing with the broken off peanut shells on the table. 

“You’re here to arrest me, inspector?” it was that cold voice again, the one Bruce heard from the phone just now. 

“Sorry?” Bruce questioned, still standing next to the woman.

“Judging by the news. They’re loving me, nobody else is.” 

“I- I don’t understand-”

Natalie snatched a copy of newspaper from her lap and slid it to Bruce. He took his seat next to Natalie and picked it up to read “Police close in on millionaire wife accused of murdering husband.”

“Miss Rushman, trust me, I’m not here to arrest you. And I didn’t know about this. The publicists, you know they tend to exacerbate everything.” Bruce did not see this coming, nor did he knew how his discussion with Tony back at the precinct would suddenly end up on the news. 

“I’ve had two officers ringing me up to the station this afternoon, surely you boys must have come to any conclusions.” Natalie continued, still not making eye contact with Bruce. 

Bruce sighed, knowing that he had to be honest with the woman before him. “Yes, Miss Rushman. You are the prime suspect but we’re still looking for-” 

Natalie scoffed, “I figured you boys would be keeping an eye on me, explains the extra round of investigation at my house and the fishy questions that you were asking me.”

“That was for an all-round investigation.” Bruce defended. 

“Have you boys found any leads that would support your accusations? Or is this what you just do? Drop by for a chat then immediately jumping to conclusions?”

“We can’t dismiss the evidence that we’ve picked up.”

“And what exactly is that piece of evidence about?” Natalie finally turned towards the inspector. Bruce noticed her fiery eyes and was frightened by them. He hardly earned Natalie’s trust a week ago and now he was going to lose all of it. 

“It’s privileged information.” Bruce kept his head down as he replied. 

Natalie derided his statement “and here I am thinking that I’ve been through worse times.”

Bruce clenched his hands together. “Miss Rushman… please be honest with me. Is there something you’re hiding from us?”

“Why would I ever do that, inspector? My husband’s been murdered!” At this point, there were tears in Natalie eyes, and her voice was cracking up. Bruce could tell that Natalie was trying her hardest to hold in her tears, to fight in the urge to show her vulnerable side again. 

Still Bruce had a job to do. If he was going to solve the case, he had to be honest with both himself and Natalie. “Well, my boss has been questioning-” 

“How long before you trust me?” Natalie cut him off. 

Bruce frowned at the woman. Taking his time to search for the right answer. He’s had enough. He trusted this woman with his whole heart and he was determined that he could prove to others Natalie Rushman did not kill her husband. “It’s not you that I don’t trust, you know that.” 

Natalie plopped her head down and used her hands to support her head. She was beaten, and exhausted. Bruce wanted to apologise to her but he couldn’t come up with any constructive excuses to his boss’ accusations. He most definitely could not mention about the carbon monoxide poisoning that he only discovered a few hours ago. 

Bruce’s head was still in a mess when Natalie disrupted his thoughts. “I’m sorry, I’m just…” She swallowed hard before starting again, “Everything seems to be falling apart and… people keep talking behind my back...” 

“Miss Rushman, you don’t have to listen to what others think about you.” Bruce tried to comfort her. “And I know you’re not someone who’s after others’ fortune, nor someone who’s… casual in their sexual encounters…” Bruce felt embarrassed by what he was saying, “you’re just trying hard to look for a stable relationship.” 

Natalie scoffed at his comment. “How do you know for sure? we barely know each other.” 

“You said so yourself, it’s hard to find someone with shared life experience. And i’m trying hard myself too.”

Natalie placed her hand on top of bruce’s. “Whatever’s happening to you I hope you get it sorted out soon.” 

Bruce laughed at Natalie’s statement. “that’s very unlikely.” 

“why?” she raised one of her eyebrows.

Bruce looked deeply into Natalie’s eyes, thinking whether he should open up to her. He had never talked to anyone about his difficulties, not even Thor knew about Betty. For years, Bruce had been keeping everything to himself, he never told anyone how miserable he still felt from breaking up with Betty, he never told anyone how much he hated his boss who was always giving him a hard time. He was just trying to keep his life together, but as time goes by more and more of his walls have been broken down, tearing Bruce into pieces. He could no longer endure his pain. He craved to break free, he craved to have someone who truly understood his sorrow. And this could be his chance to finally let go.

Natalie figured it wasn’t the best thing to butt into someone’s business, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked-“

“No.” Bruce blurted out, “it’s fine.” he shuffled in his stool and sat up straight before releasing his grieve. “I- I want to let out my feelings to someone I trust, someone who can relate to me.” 

Natalie was surprised by Bruce’s words. she smiled softly at his comment which lightened Bruce up. 

“The thing is, I keep telling myself I’m fine with the stress from work, fine with my boss nagging me, fine with my… breakup, although it was years ago.” Bruce let out a deep sigh. “I- I mean, I thought I had moved on, and I thought I had gotten used to things being this hard, but I can’t help but feel exhausted, worn out, lost. It’s like I’m suffocating from all this negativity, it’s like I’m-“

“Trapped.” Natalie interrupted him. Bruce was amused to see how Natalie was thinking the exact same thing as him. 

“Yea…,” Bruce continued, relieved that he finally got to release his thoughts. “Trapped. Like a bird in its cage, living its meaningless life, yearning to break free.” 

Natalie’s hand was still on top of Bruce’s. She gently rubbed small circles upon his hand as a gesture of reassurance. Bruce was glad to have someone by his side. 

“Anyways, I- I… I couldn’t find my purpose. I got low, so I tried to put a bullet into my mouth.” Bruce decided to end his story there. He kinda felt embarrassed with what he had just told Natalie. 

The woman beside him was still frowning at him. Bruce couldn’t really tell how Natalie was feeling about him. Was she disappointed? Shocked? Yet without responding to Bruce’s story, Natalie ordered two shots of vodka and handed one to Bruce. 

Puzzled, Bruce took the shot of vodka from Natalie’s hand and looked confusingly at her. “What’s this supposed to mean?” 

“When I get low, inspector, I drink my way to hell to forget about everything.” She held her cup up to face Bruce, implying for a toast. “I don’t really know what I should be saying, but I’ll have you know I’m here to drown myself in vodka with you, that is if you’re up for it.” Natalie smirked at him. 

Bruce loved it when Natalie gave him that playful little smirk, as if she was trying to challenge him to lose himself. “I’m totally up for it, Miss Rushman.” 

“За здоровье (for health)” Natalie said softly under her breath as they clinked their drinks together. 

“Sorry?” Bruce questioned.

“It means ‘for health’. It’s Russian.” She smiled at him again. 

“Oh,” Bruce finished his drink, staring deeply into the woman before him. He was grateful. Grateful that he didn’t decide to head home after work, grateful for his heartfelt conversation with Natalie, grateful to finally have someone being there for him. 

The two of them spent the rest of the night drinking and continuing on with their conversation, getting to know more about both of them. Soon the dreadful vibe that both of them were giving off turned into faint laughters and delight that nearly filled the room. Bruce, completely forgetting about his job, was for once having the time of his life. He had never felt like this before. Even when he was having drinks with Thor, they rarely let loose of themselves. But tonight, he felt free. Free from all his wearies, enjoying his time with himself and Natalie. To be honest, he was pretty surprised to discover Natalie’s outstanding ability in drinking. 

They both decided it was pretty late. They agreed on heading home as Natalie took out her purse to search for her wallet, handing pieces of cash to the bartender. 

Bruce tried to stop her by grabbing her hand, “Woah, Miss Rushman, please don’t-“

“It’s my treat, inspector.” Natalie smiled smugly at Bruce. 

“Oh no, you don’t have to-” 

“It’s for returning the little treat you gave me back at the coffee shop the other day.” 

Bruce was somehow convinced by her statement, since he had better plans in mind. “I’ll drive you home, then? I assume you didn’t call for your chauffeur and it’s pretty late now.” 

Natalie smiled at his offer. “that's very nice of you, inspector.” 

Bruce offered his arm to Natalie as she wrapped her hand around it. She leaned the weight of her body against Bruce, startling him as she got closer and closer. He led Natalie to his car and began driving home in silence.


End file.
